2024 Canadian Grand Prix: Alonso Tops Dry-to-Wet Second Practice

Fernando Alonso topped the second practice session ahead of the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix, ahead of George Russell and home favourite Lance Stroll.

The session started quickly with a number of drivers queuing up at the end of the pitlane, waiting for some dry running after a rain soaked Free Practice One, but most drivers were back in the box after believing the track was too wet for slick tyres. Charles Leclerc came out on intermediate tyres, being noted by race control for incorrect tyre usage. Pierre Gasly was the only driver out on track for multiple minutes, putting his BWT Alpine F1 Team challenger through it’s paces as they the track got quicker.

With around 10 minutes gone in the session, drivers started to come back out on dry tyres to get some crucial running under their belts, with more tricky conditions expected over the weekend. Daniel Ricciardo replaced Gasly at the top of the timesheets momentorially, before being replaced by Fernando Alonso. Kevin Magnussen had a sketchy moment, having to take to the off road in sector 2. A number of cars then went wide at the Turn 10 hurpin, with a few drivers complaining about track conditions.

Home hero Stroll then went top of the timesheets, before being replaced by Alonso a few minutes later. Despite more rain falling, a number of drivers started to go quicker, including Logan Sargeant, who went fourth on the timesheets, before Alex Albon pushed him down to fifth. Verstappen pulled into the pitlane with 37 minutes to go, as he smelled smoke coming from his RB20.

Photo: Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

As the track kept evolving, everyone kept getting quicker. As Max Verstappen pulled into the pits, Leclerc was top of the timesheets on the medium tyre, ahead of Alonso. Hamilton was on a quick flying lap, before being impeded by Leclerc at the final corner – the seven-time world champion wasn’t pleased on the team radio. It wasn’t just impeding causing Lewis Hamilton issues, Ricciardo reported to his race engineer that no one was getting out of the way on his flying lap, that put him fifth.

With half of the session gone, the rain started to fall meaning all the drivers once again returned to the pitlane, with Alonso in first ahead of Russell and Stroll, with Leclerc in fourth and Ricciardo rounding out the top five. Esteban Ocon was the next driver on track, on the intermediate tyres, with a few more following him out onto the circuit. Verstappen’s session was ended by the earlier by an ERS issues. It’s a worry for Oracle Red Bull Racing, especially as Verstappen’s car is fitted with a new PU for this weekend.

Alonso ended the session on top with a 1:15.810, ahead of Russell by +0.463s and Stroll by +0.654s. Leclerc followed the top three on the medium tyres, while Ricciardo finished in the top five, rounding out a good day for the Australian and Visa Cash App RB.

Magnussen finished in sixth, ahead of Hamilton in eighth. Yuki Tsunoda ended the second hour of practice in eighth, ahead of Albon and Sergio Pérez in the top ten. Ocon was the lead Alpine in eleventh, with Sargeant and Carlos Sainz Jr. just behind. Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hülkenberg finished ahead of Oscar Piastri, who didn’t run on the soft tyre throughout the session. Guanyu Zhou got some crucial running in after missing the most of Free Practice One, finishing in sixteenth, ahead of Verstappen, Gasly and Lando Norris.